LVIV, Ukraine - Four years into Russia’s war, the western Ukrainian city of Lviv is trying to master the impossible: how to live normally while surrounded by death.
At 11:30 a.m., the city stops. Cars freeze. Pedestrians bow their heads in silence as another military funeral convoy passes through. It happens one to five times a day.
Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says the city has lost approximately 2,000 citizens. ‘It is a very huge price which we pay to our independence, to our democracy,’ he told Fox News Digital.
Sadovyi launched the ‘Unbroken’ project: rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers, 20% of the city budget dedicated to defense tech, and a civilian training center that is part school, part shooting range.
In one classroom, teenage girls learn survival skills. Upstairs, instructor Vitaliy shows off American-made AR-15s. A shredded image of Lenin hangs on the wall, riddled with bullet holes.
Outside, two wounded veterans practice archery. One, a double amputee, recently won gold in a national competition.
The city’s military cemetery filled so quickly that a new burial ground opened weeks ago. Rows of fresh graves stretch across the hillside, marked by blue-and-yellow flags and photographs of the fallen.
Yet that same evening, inside the Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet, hundreds gather for the ‘Miss Lviv’ beauty pageant. The reigning Miss Lviv says: ‘We are trying to keep life going. I want the war to stop.’
Air raid sirens still cut through the city. Residents assess whether the threat is drones or missiles before deciding whether to head to shelters.
Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Andriy Melnyk, a Lviv native, called Russia’s latest assault ‘the worst and most devastating’ on Kyiv since the invasion began. He urged the U.S. and allies to provide more air defense systems.
‘This city will have a great future,’ Sadovyi says. ‘To learn how to be unbroken.’